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Our Archived Information on Chewonki Centennial Weekend

If you couldn’t get to Centennial Weekend or you want to relive it, you’ll enjoy the bits and pieces below. Centennial Weekend, August 14-16, 2015, scheduleMilestones Along the Centennial Year TimelineSummer 2011

A small group of alumni and staff led by Kevin Connors (MCS 15; trustee ’06-present) starts talking about creating a book to honor the centennial

Boys Camp honors its 100th summer with a special campfire and a party on the Quad.

Release of the CD ‘Round the Campfire: A Collection of Chewonki Songs and Sounds

Fall 2014

To honor 100 years, President Willard Morgan and former heads Don Hudson and Tim Ellis plant a young white oak that will “send new roots into ancient soil and grow toward the future,” as Willard puts it

Chewonki invites partners and friends in midcoast Maine to its first farm-to-table Harvest Dinner, starting a new community tradition

Celebratory gatherings take place in Maine, Massachusetts, and New York

Hot off the press: the centennial book, Chewonki: 100 Years of Learning Outdoors

The first segment of the Nature Trail is restored

Trustees commit $100,000 to the Centennial Challenge; by December 31, others meet the challenge, contributing another $100,000 in new and increased gifts

Winter 2015

Plans take shape for Centennial Weekend, including an exhibit of treasures from the archives

A team of architects and landscape architects visits campus to begin mapping a master plan for Chewonki Neck’s future

Spring 2015

Celebratory gatherings take place in Washington, D.C., Charlottesville, Atlanta, San Francisco, and Seattle

Production begins on a tribute video to be shown on Centennial Weekend

Biggest Margaret Ellis Day ever; volunteers prepare the perennial gardens for an important summer

Summer 2015

Chewonki Annual Fund hits $1,000,000 by June 30

A Portland Press Herald article highlights the centennial

Centennial Weekend arrives; so do more than 600 people over three memorable days

“When Father Laid the Carpet on the Stairs” and storytelling (Renny Little)

“The Poignant Campfire Song” (Aaron Ritzenberg and Brandon Stafford)

“Waltzing with Bears’ (everyone singing)

“Why Geese Fly Farther than Eagles” (Tim Ellis)

“Flea Fly” (Steve Melamed)

“The Lego Song” (Andy Barker)

“The Tale of Meeting a Lion in the Zoo” (Douglas Smith)

“Send Me a Leaf” (Bob Costello)

“Wet Is Funny” (Reis Costello, Charlie Fear, Matt Weeks)

“Yellow Convertible” (David Barrington)

“Walrus Hunt” (Matt Lunt)

“The Cremation of Sam McGee” (Joe Lake)

“The Pine Trees” (Joe Scott)

“Voyageurs” (Garth Altenburg and Dick Thomas)

“Peace” (everyone singing)

“River” (everyone singing)

S’mores under the stars

’Round the Campfire: a Collection of Chewonki Songs and SoundsList of songs and sounds on the Centennial CD

The bell

The Camp Cheer

“’Neath the Pine Tree”

“I Knew this Place”

“If I Had a Boat”

“Simple Gifts”

“Waltzing with Bears”

“Garden Song”

“Isle au Haut”

“Yellow Convertible”

“In My Time”

“A Place in the Choir”

“Wagon Wheel”

“Hold Back the Days”

“Peace”

“River”

“Look to this Day”

“How Can I Keep from Singing?”

“Come by the Hills”

“Sand Dollar”

“House Warming”

“Close Your Eyes”

“Caledonia”

“Peace Like a River”

“Teach Your Children”

“Willy’s Song”

“Chewonki at Work in the World”: speakers’ biographies and short excerpts from their presentations KC Golden (energy and climate change expert)Boys Camp Staff 1983Wilderness Trips Staff 1984The Building Program Staff 1983, 1984Maine Coast Semester 39 and 44 parentCurrent Foundation Advisor A Big Enough Rucksack: Chewonki and the Climate Challenge“We cannot very well tell the two billion people who have known nothing that we would call…economic opportunity, ‘Sorry, the atmosphere is already full of the emissions that created our prosperity so I guess you’re out of luck”…We are going to have to engineer a different sustainable path to broadly shared prosperity…We need to wage and win the clean energy revolution that we now know is possible… It’s not just an economic thing, it’s not an environmental thing, it’s not a political thing, it’s not a right or left thing, it’s a right and wrong thing… Chewonki is where I really began to cultivate a sense that when it comes to our biggest and most important challenges, we need to build our sense of not just being personally powerful but collectively efficacious… our biggest challenges as challenges we own together.” Becky Hale (photographer for National Geographic)Sea Kayaking 1992Boys Camp Staff 1994-1998The Fixer: How a Summer of Loading Dishes, Driving a Camp Van, and Shingling a Roof Led Me to National Geographic“I spend a lot of time…problem-solving in a photo studio, trying to come up with images that convey a scientific concept or an idea in a single photo that is interesting enough that people are going to stop and read the article… working at Chewonki was my first real job and I worked for someone who gave me a lot of autonomy, and a lot of responsibility, and I worked with great people…it…helped me to have the confidence to say ‘I’m going to try to do something that I don’t know if I can do or haven’t ever done.”____________________________________________________________________________Jane Koopman (NOLS instructor, coordinator for the Futaleufu Riverkeeper and Kayak River Stewards of Chile)Maine Coast Semester 33Camp Staff 2008, 2010 Girls Camp Staff 2011 Wilderness Trips Staff 2011, 2013Outdoor Classroom Staff 2011Building a Career: Teaching and Leading in the Outdoors“[My] semester…turned my life on the trajectory that it is on today…put a name on sense of place…community-building… Kayaking is my mode of seeing the world in a new way….Kayak River Stewards of Chile [aims to] inform paddlers of the threats that rivers in Chile are facing…and also inform locals…who might actually have no idea that those rivers are threatened…these paddlers [are] the eyes and ears of all the organizations that are working to protect these rivers…”John Little (activist for river conservation, founder of the Missisquoi River Basin Association, educator)Boys Camp 1970, 1971Wilderness Trips 1972, 1976Boys Camp Staff 1977, 1978Wilderness Trips Staff 1979, 1980, 1981Girls Camp Parent 2010Clean Waters, Hard Work, and Canoes Can Take You a Long Way in LifeTeaching people about river ecosystems: “Fishing. That’s my usual hook…’Who’s a fisherman?’ The hands go up. ‘So what do fish eat?’ ‘Worms, ‘ right?And then I say, ‘Listen, how many suicidal worms do you know who jump into the river to feed fish?’…Then we go out to a local stream or river and do some kick sampling, pull up the bugs, and ‘Wow!’…[People tell him:] ’You’ve got to do an online science class.’ No. Not science. You’ve got to get out…touch things, look at things…wilderness can be in your own backyard.”
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Jock Montgomery (photographer; adventure travel guide)Boys Camp 1969-1972, 1974Boys Camp Staff 1976, 1977, 1981-1982, 1993-1995, 2006, 2007Maine Reach 1977, 1978What I Want to Be When I Grow Up! The Chewonki Experience Taken Worldwide through a Career as Adventure Travel Guide, Professional Photographer, and Entrepreneur Remembering Maine Reach: “Community…commitment…in a group, doing more than what is required is what it’s all about…In 1987…I came up with the confidence to try and teach myself photography. I really think I wouldn’t have been so willing to do that had I not had this background of Chewonki…. 1976, my first year as a camp counselor…Tim [Ellis] basically said to me, ‘You’re here to be a leader and a teacher; now go figure it out.’ He had the trust in me that I could do it…Chewonki is a place where a young person can find their own footing and maybe even discover a lifelong passion, as I did.”____________________________________________________________________________Malin Pinsky (Ph.D., ecologist, marine biologist, researcher, professor)Maine Coast Semester 20Wilderness Trips 1984Adaptation to Climate Change“Two of the things that I took away from my experiences here at Chewonki: living deliberately and living with a purpose—in part [from] the English class with Amy [Rogers]…and also from the Mariners trip, being on a boat where the knot you tied was really important…and through the semester, we had the chance to do real work…I learned the importance of the difference an individual can make…we could work on the farm and produce our own food…it has really stuck with me even as I’ve tried to step into larger and larger communities through time…have a voice…speak up for what I believe in…having the chance to feel part of a small community gave me the confidence to go out into larger communities later on…”____________________________________________________________________________Dr. Aaron Ritzenberg (Ph.D., English professor)Boys Camp 1987-1991, 1993 Boys Camp Staff 1994, 1995, 1999-2006Brandon Stafford (computer engineer, designer, and builder)Maine Coast Semester 3Boys Camp Staff ’93-‘95,’97,’04-‘06What Chewonki Taught UsBrandon: Chewonki “had a major influence on me…the big things that we learned were things like interpersonal skills, how to get along with other people …[and] I kind of started thinking, oh, maybe I should think about what my impact is on the world.” Remembering the advice Boat Shop Manager Lee Huston gave to campers building their first boat: “‘When you face something difficult in life, just break it down in steps, and do the first step’…that is a shockingly effective method for dealing with many, many problems.”Aaron: “Sometimes campers will listen to you and sometimes they won’t (and I could never figure out when that would happen, actually)…but the thing that is much more consistent is that usually they will act like you… [being a counselor] made me think really carefully and deliberately about the kind of person I wanted to create in the world, and therefore the kind of person I needed to be in the world…” ____________________________________________________________________________Katie Stout (furniture designer, artist)Wilderness Trips 2001, 2006 Boys Camp Staff 2009Furniture Design + Non-Traditional Traditional“Chewonki taught me…to be resourceful and recycle…[Her stuffed-animal chairs:] I made the first one out of an old sweater I found in the lost-and-found at Chewonki. I really loved it but it never really fit because it was made for a small boy and I was not a small boy…One of the things that I’m most grateful to Chewonki for is the supportive community. I feel like if you’re going to fail, fail at Chewonki; then you can learn from it….Community is the greatest thing we have.”Saturday evening video “Chewonki: ATribute to 100 Years of Learning Outdoors” videoSpeech by Willard Morgan, PresidentDelivered on August 15, 2015, at Chewonki Centennial WeekendWhat a day. What a glorious day on Chewonki Neck!Thank you for coming together to mark Chewonki’s centennial in the single largest gathering ever on this property.I am fortunate to know, or to have met today, so many of you. However, in case we have not met, my name is Willard Morgan. I have the privilege of being Chewonki’s president at this remarkable time in our history. It truly is an honor to be amongst this community of friends tonight.Before I share a few words, I want to thank all those involved in the production of our tribute video, especially Chewonki’s own Charlie Hudson, the videographer. To foreshadow great music ahead, I also want to acknowledge and thank Dave Mallet for the use of his iconic song, “I Knew This Place,” a Chewonki standard, which we used to close the video.In this moment we are near the peak of our weekend experience together and from that vantage point I wish to share just a few thoughts to bring us together.From where we sit now, we can literally see the past, present, and future–in the place, people, and spirit of Chewonki.Take a moment. Look around.Look at your neighbors, your family, your friends.Look at the natural world all around us, shaped by so many lives, non-human and human, over so many years.Look inside yourselves. What do you see? What do you see in this moment? Now, looking beyond this place and moment:Let us reach out to the thousands of Chewonki friends around the country and throughout the world who are not here tonight, but who are with us.Let us also remember now those who are no longer with us in person, but are in spirit. Let them join us here tonight.I am reminded of the feeling here on campus the day after a program ends: voices and laughter echo in the stillness long after the people are gone. If you listen carefully tonight and tomorrow morning, including at Sunday Service, I think you will hear them too. Now that we have arrived throughout this day, truly arrived, together and in this place, let us celebrate 100 years together!We celebrate the leaders who brought us this far–some of whom we saw in the video just now.We celebrate this place, a property assembled and conserved over many decades and now our responsibility to steward for many centuries more.We celebrate the thousands of lives changed by Chewonki!We celebrate Chewonki’s impact on each of us–a gift for life.We celebrate the food we share, the air we breathe, the sun that gives us life, and the water that nourishes here, provided and protected in part by the good work of Chewonki friends like you.And we celebrate all that is to come for Chewonki!As we begin our second century, we weave our many experiences together into one future.We are united in mission knowing that children everywhere need time in nature, learning outdoors…now more than ever.We are comforted knowing that our campers, like Jackson [in video], understand this. As he said, Chewonki is “outdoor social media, where you actually meet new friends.” How great is that!? A brilliant articulation of our time in history.As we look ahead together, what do you see for Chewonki?I imagine a future for Chewonki that is impactful, kind, joyous, inclusive, creative, vital!I imagine a Chewonki that reflects the demographics of our country and embraces difference as powerful education.I imagine a Chewonki that operates wisely within constraints of our natural resources.I imagine a Chewonki that continues to educate year-round, as a school and a camp, changing lives through our programs and providing models for others to emulate.I imagine a Chewonki rooted here on Chewonki Neck but with branches that extend beyond this place, in program and impact.I imagine Chewonki friends working together to build thriving communities wherever they are, leading with integrity, impact, and compassion for others.And I imagine all of us returning here, ourselves, and in the form of our descendants, for many centuries to come. I look forward to seeing you, now and then.So, thank you again for joining us this weekend. Thank you to the Centennial Committee members who made the Centennial Year possible. Thank you to the Chewonki staff who have prepared for this weekend over the past year. Thank you to our trustees and advisors who, as volunteers, steadfastly steward the mission and finances of Chewonki.
I hope you will all stay to enjoy the timeless music of David Mallet this evening and I look forward to seeing many of you at the Point tomorrow for Sunday Service led by Tim Ellis and Dick Thomas.
We have much to look forward to, much to be hopeful for, many friends worldwide, and that is the true gift of Chewonki now, and for our shared future.Thank you.Centennial Sunday Service: order of serviceLed by Tim Ellis and Dick ThomasArrive quietly and sit in silenceAll join in the readings: “Look to this Day (Salutation of the Dawn)” from the Sanskrit “A Message” by Harry Emerson FosdickAll sing “I Knew this Place” by David MallettTime for sharing thoughts: if moved to do so, stand and share a few words—perhaps about how Chewonki has impacted you; perhaps about someone who has been a support; perhaps something about your hopes for Chewonki’s next 100 yearsAll sing “Come to the Hills” by Gordon SmithClosing words